TUFF Cooper, Thieving Agents
by THEEVILDOER
Summary: Re-write of "TUFF Cooper, Things of Thieves and Agents". Sly Cooper, Kitty Katswell and their friends have been framed for a crime they didn't commit. Now they're forced to work together to solve this case, unfortunately they don't like each other so sparks are sure to fly. A bit AU and OOC, hints of Kittly but mainly Kudley and Carmly.
1. From Agents to Thieves

Chapter 1.- From Agents to Thieves.

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Our story begins in the city of Petropolis, a place which was known for being a spicy cesspool of crime and villainy. Fortunately for its residents, the criminals there were not so dangerous.  
Right now our main focus will be a certain master thief who was doing a mission with his wife. They both thought it would be an easy mission, but they couldn't be more wrong.  
Sly Cooper was doing some undercover work with his partner and wife, Carmelita Montoya Fox-Cooper. They both were trying to catch their old enemy, Muggshot when he was going to meet with a local criminal called "the Chameleon" in a coffee shop.  
They were disguised as a couple that was celebrating their anniversary, while they waited for Muggshot and that Chameleon guy.  
- Where the heck is Muggshot? He should've been here since an hour ago. - Sly complained.  
- He'll come, just calm down, ringtail, someone might discover us. - Carmelita said while she sipped at her coffee.  
Just then, before Sly could reply, a lizard-like guy in a black electronic suit, with a long coat and a hat covering him, got inside the coffee shop where Sly and Carmelita were.  
- Looks like we got lucky, that should be the Cham-a-leeon, or Chameleon, or however it goes. - Sly said.  
- Looks like he's not alone either, he's got some company. - Carmelita added while she pointed a white dog and a tan cat entering just after the Chameleon.  
- I don't think they're with him, I don't sense any disturbance in the Force around them, but that lizard guy, he's the one we're after.  
- Ok, shut up and try to hide your face, Muggshot's coming in.  
And our favorite vixen was right; Muggshot had just entered the coffee shop. He was wearing a long coat, which was strange because of his enormous arms. Sly and Carmelita thought that it was funny that Muggshot actually wore almost the same outfit that the Chameleon was wearing.  
Meanwhile, Dudley Puppy and his partner Kitty Katswell had taken a seat to watch over the Chameleon and an unknown villain to them, a big, muscled, purple-furred dog called Muggshot.  
- Kitty, I have the strange feeling that we're being watched. - Dudley said to his partner quietly.  
- Well, this time you're right, it seems that that raccoon and that vixen had been staring and saying some things about us. - Kitty replied as she glanced at the vixen. - Still, we have to focus in this mission, we have never seen nor we know what this Muggshot guy can do.  
- No worries Kitty, I'm sure I can handle him. - Dudley said confidently.  
- Dudley, that Muggshot guy looks like it's almost thrice your weight, strength and height.  
- Ow, then I'll leave him to you.  
- We'll handle both the Chameleon and Muggshot, don't you worry about it.  
- I'm more worried about the ringtail and the vixen over there.  
- We also should keep an eye on them, I don't know why, but I think I've seen that raccoon somewhere.  
- I think the same, I'm not sure.  
Dudley and Kitty kept talking about why they thought they have seen the raccoon for a couple more minutes, while Sly and Carmelita were talking about how they were going to catch the new criminal and Muggshot.  
All of a sudden, Muggshot stood up and slammed his fist hard on the table, breaking it immediately, while he yelled "I ain't gonna follow any orders anymore!".  
- Guess it's showtime, Carm/Kitty. - Sly and Dudley said while they stood up to face Muggshot and the Chameleon.  
Dudley and Sly walked in silence to where the criminals were, until the Chameleon recognized both of them.  
- IT'S THE LAW! - The Chameleon yelled.  
"Oh boy." Dudley and Sly thought.  
Muggshot smirked and pulled out his enormous SMGs, then he pointed them at Sly and Dudley.  
- Say goodbye, Cooper! - Muggshot yelled.  
While the people in the coffee shop ran for their lives, Sly saw the imminent danger and tackled the white dog at his right to the ground, evading the first shots from Muggshot. However, the former gangster pointed his guns at both men and prepared to shot, but Sly had pulled out some weird object, which created a round shield, which deflected all the bullets from Muggshot. While Muggshot was distracted reloading his guns, Dudley and Sly charged against him and punched him in the chin at the same time.  
Meanwhile, Kitty had jumped from her chair and lunged over the Chameleon with a flying kick. The Chameleon pulled out a blaster while Kitty was standing up again and shot at the cat agent, but then the evil lizard got shocked by Carmelita. The cat stared at the vixen, then she mouthed a "Thank you" and lunged at the Chameleon again.  
On the other hand, Muggshot had fallen to the ground, but when Dudley and Sly tried to attack him again, he stopped them and grabbed them by their ankles.  
- No more "Mr. Nice Dog" for yeh, Cooper! - Muggshot said.  
- Oh, you were being nice? - Sly said sarcastically. - I didn't notice.  
Muggshot roared but when he tried to throw both men against a wall, Sly kicked him in the face, which freed the raccoon from the former gangster's grip. Dudley seized the opportunity and pulled out his blaster, then he shot Muggshot on the chest, who released his grip on the agent's leg.  
Both dog and raccoon looked at each other, then Sly gave a thumbs-up to Dudley and pulled out his family cane. Then, just to make sure that Muggshot would be out for a while, Sly whacked Muggshot in the head with his cane.  
In that moment, Kitty had cuffed the Chameleon, and when she saw the cane, her eyes went wide and she realized something.  
- YOU! - Kitty yelled while she pointed a menacing finger at Sly.  
Everyone turned to see the angry agent, who had her blaster pointed at the thieving raccoon, who had also turned his head to see who had yelled. When he saw that the furious green eyes of the cat were set on him, he also realized something.  
- Kitty? - Sly asked.  
- You backstabbing, no-good, lousy, stupid, thieving raccoon! - Kitty yelled at the thief.  
- At least I'm not an idiotic, simple-minded, spinster, feline agent! - Sly yelled back at the agent.  
- You know him/her? - Dudley and Carmelita said.  
While both couples were distracted, the Chameleon slipped his hands from the cuffs and transformed into some kind of weapon, then he shot two shiny round discs to Sly and Carmelita's chests. They tried to dodge them, but to no avail, the discs embedded into the Interpol officers' flesh, making them groan and cringe in pain. Dudley and Kitty saw this, so they tried to catch the Chameleon again, only to be punched hard on the chest by Muggshot, who had recovered his consciousness. Then, the Interpol and the TUFF agents were thrown hard against a wall, making them lose their consciousness, then Muggshot grabbed Sly by his shirt, put him in front of his face and said:  
- You really thought that'd puny stick of yours would keep me down, Cooper? - Muggshot said to Sly.  
- No, but you really need to carry some mints with you, your breath is awful. - Sly replied.  
- Oh ya don't know how much I'm gonna enjoy killing you with my bare hands, Cooper.  
- Muggshot we must leave, the others are waiting for us at the hideout. - The Chameleon said while he was tugging in Muggshot's coat.  
- Yer safe by now, but remember that I'm gonna rip ya into a million pieces. - Muggshot said to Sly.  
Muggshot grunted and threw Sly hard against a wall. Sly hit the wall and he broke it down, falling unconscious a second later.  
Several minutes later, Sly was regaining his consciousness, when he heard that someone was calling his name.  
- Sly... Sly? Are you alive? Please ringtail, respond. - The voice said.  
- Come on ringtail, wake up. - A man voice said.  
Sly opened his eyes and he saw a white dog in front of him, he startled and tried to punch him in the face.  
- Whoa! Calm down! - The dog asked.  
Sly made the dog trip and he cuffed him with great ability. Then, Carmelita grabbed him by his shoulders and made him face her.  
- Ringtail stop! He's not a bad guy!  
- Huh? What are you talking about now, Carm?  
- He's the one that helped me get you out of the rubble.  
Sly looked at the dog doubtfully.  
- Hi, I'm Dudley Puppy. - Said the dog before biting his butt.  
Dudley's action only made Sly raise an eyebrow and say:  
- Are you serious? He seems to be even more stupid than Naruto.  
- And so are you, Cooper. - A cat behind Carmelita said.  
- Kitty Katswell, I should've known you would be here. - Sly said with derision. - After all, everytime I come to Petropolis you get into in my business.  
- That's because you're a criminal and I'm a secret agent, my job is to stop you.  
- Do you understand any of what they're talking about? - Dudley asked to Carmelita.  
- Believe me, I wouldn't be as confused as you if I did. - Carmelita replied.  
- You should be at jail! - Kitty yelled.  
- Guess what? I'm not! - Sly said with treachery and advantage.  
- Can anyone explain what the hell are you two talking about? - Carmelita asked.  
Sly and Kitty sighed and glanced at their respective partners.  
- You'll see. - Sly began. - Many years ago, before I went in my crusade to recover the Thievius Raccoonus, some lousy criminals caught me and stole my cane.  
- But before that, this dirty criminal stole a valuable painting from the Petropolis Museum. - Kitty added.  
- I'm not a "dirty criminal", I'm a master thief. - Sly said. - Anyway, when I recovered it, this kitten and his idiotic and smug partner tried to catch me. And for the record, I stole the painting AFTER recovering my cane.  
- Whatever, Cooper. - Kitty said. - Jack and I tried to catch him and his little gang but somehow we couldn't, those thieves got away.  
- It was because you and your old partner were too stupid to let your guard down when you caught me.  
- Don't call me stupid!  
- I'll do whatever I want!  
- Can anyone uncuff me? - Dudley asked.  
While Sly and Kitty growled at each other, Carmelita went with Dudley and uncuffed him, then she put the cuffs in her pocket and said:  
- Ringtail, we don't have any time to fight, we must go after Muggshot.  
- No, because he's under arrest for robbing the Petropolis Museum and for interfering in a mission of the Turbo Undercover Fighting Force. - Kitty said while she took her cuffs.  
- I don't think so, if you couldn't catch me in the past, what makes you think you can do it now? - Sly asked with a smirk.  
- Because now I've mastered all the forms of martial arts and my claws are registered as lethal weapons.  
- (Yawn) So? I also know some about martial arts, and my cane is the third of the deadliest weapons in the Universe.  
- Detective Fox! Agent Cooper! - A badger with a cigar in his mouth yelled as he entered the coffee shop.  
- Agents Puppy and Katswell! - A flea in a monitor yelled as he imitated the badger.  
Dudley, Sly, Carmelita and Kitty's eyes went wide open and they immediately saluted as their bosses entered the rests of the coffee shop.  
- Wait a minute, Barton? - The flea said.  
- Herbert, is that you? - The badger said in unison.  
- It's been a really long time isn't it?  
- Yeah, what have you done in all this years?  
- Uh, can you tell me what's happening here? - Dudley asked quietly to Carmelita.  
- I think your boss knows mine. - Carmelita responded.  
- Well, that's right Detective Fox. - The badger said.  
- I'm Sly's wife, remember Chief?  
- Still, Detective Fox suits you better, anyway, I want you and your husband to meet my old partner from college, Herbert Dumbrowski.  
- Agents, I want you to meet my old partner, Barton Barkley. - Herbert said.  
- I still don't get it, how is it that you two were partners? - Dudley asked.  
- You'll see... - Barton tried to say before six agents broke into the remains of the coffe shop.  
- Freeze! All of you are under arrest for enter into a military base of the United States of America and for stealing a secret weapon! - Said the leader of the agents.  
- Are-are they really... humans? - The TUFF agents asked in unison.  
- I'm sorry, you must be confusing us with someone else. - Sly said as a matter-of-factly.  
- No, we are not, you are the TUFF agents Dudley Puppy, Kitty Katswell and Herbert Dumbrowski, and the Interpol officers Carmelita Montoya Fox, Barton Barkley and Sly Cooper. - The lead agent said again.  
- I'm sorry, but I have to say this... I'm not going to prison, at least not for a crime that I didn't commit. - Sly said with a determined frown.  
Sly looked at Carmelita and the latter nodded, understanding what her husband said.  
- Carmelita NOW! - Sly yelled while he threw two smoke bombs to the floor.  
Carmelita and Sly shocked all six agents with their shock pistols, and when the smoke had cleared out, the TUFF members and Chief Barkley could see it.  
Sly and Carmelita then rushed with them and grabbed Dudley and Kitty by their wrists, confusing them a little.  
- What do you think you're doing?! - Kitty asked very startled.  
- Chief! You and your friend must come with us! - Carmelita shouted as she and her husband ignored Kitty's question.  
Chief Barkley hesitated a moment but he grabbed Chief Dumbrowski in his hands and ran after the former officers.  
Sly and Carmelita ran through the back door and then they headed to their car, but many agents were taking it away.  
- Damn! Now how do we escape from those agents! - Sly cursed.  
- If you let me go, I can go get the TUFF Mobile. - Dudley said.  
Sly looked at him and then he released the former agent.  
Dudley ran to the TUFF Mobile, evading and having to attack three agents that were guarding it, started the engine and sped over to where his partner, his boss and the others were.  
- Hop aboard! - Dudley yelled.  
- Are you insane?! - Sly yelled back.  
- Just do it ringtail! - Carmelita ordered.  
Dudley drifted and everybody jumped into the TUFF Mobile. After everyone was aboard, Dudley sped off again, this time being followed by ten black vans that tried to catch them. Sly and Carmelita saw the vehicles and they bared their teeth, while they tried to think of a way to lose them. And just to add insult to injury, the agents were now shooting at them.  
- Sly, do you still have the hyper-cube? - Carmelita asked.  
- Yes, I think Jack put some weapons in it. - Sly said.  
- You're working with Jack! You traitor! - Kitty shouted.  
- I meant Jack Skellington, not your stupid former partner! - Sly shouted back.  
- Cooper! Just shut up and start shooting already! - Barkley ordered.  
Sly searched in his backpack and pulled out a small and bluish cube with an opening in the top. The former master thief pressed a button in the side and two weapons were spitted by the cube. Carmelita and Sly took the weapons and they turned them to their stunning mode.  
- Are you freaking insane?! You're about to kill government agents! - Kitty yelled.  
- We're not going to kill them, we'll just stun them, but I can't say the same about them! - Sly responded while he began shooting.  
Sly and Carmelita began shooting their rifles and the vehicles tried in vain to avoid the shoots, but they couldn't. At least four of the black vans crashed on lampposts, fire hydrants and walls because the shots hit their tires. However, the others were still hot on their heels.  
- What do we do now!? - Dudley asked.  
- We'll have to gather my old gang and solve this! - Sly responded while he reloaded his rifle.  
- Not that! I say what do we do now because there's a block ahead! - Dudley yelled again.  
Everyone glanced at the front of the TUFF Mobile and there was a block.  
Sly thought a few seconds and said:  
- Turn to the left and gimme some more time to think of something!  
Sly kept shooting as he thought of a way to escape from the agents and he remembered the time he was in Venice while he was trying to convince Murray to rejoin the gang. He remembered that Murray and he escaped from Carmelita by using a manhole.  
- Can this thing go through the sewers? - Sly asked.  
- I guess so. - Kitty replied.  
- Take my rifle and keep shooting, I have to do something! - Sly said.  
- What do you think you're doing, ringtail?! - Carmelita asked.  
- Saving our butts!  
Sly jumped to the front of the TUFF Mobile and then he pulled out his family cane, which he used to climb to a nearby building.  
- Is he abandoning us?! - Dudley asked.  
- No, we have to trust him, I know ringtail can be annoying and a former thief, but I know he would never let his friends, let alone his wife, get caught without a fight. - Carmelita replied.  
- I hope you're right, because if he abandon us, I'm gonna hunt him down and use my lethal ten claws on him. - Kitty warned.  
- You might as well use your breath; it's just as bad as Muggshot's. - Carmelita said with a smirk.  
Kitty growled and she took Sly's rifle to keep the agents as far as possible from them.  
All the while, Sly was using his Rocket Boots gadget and all his master thief abilities to keep up with the TUFF Mobile, while he was trying to find a way to get a way to save his boss, his wife, Dudley and the latter's chief, he really didin't cared about Kitty, but he was going to save her anyway.  
Sly watched every inch in the street below, trying to find a way to lose the agents. After five minutes Sly saw a really big manhole, which was big enough to let the TUFF Mobile get in without any problem. Sly smirked and took his communicator.  
- Carm! I've found a manhole, I'm gonna open it but first you got to throw the smoke bombs that you have left to blind the agents so they won't follow us. - Sly said through his earpiece.  
- Got it, you do that; I'll throw the smoke bombs once you've opened the manhole, over. - Carmelita's voice replied.  
- You don't have to say over, you know?  
- Just open the damn manhole, Cooper!  
Sly chuckled and jumped, he used the remaining combustible of his Rocket Boots to have an extra boost, so he could arrive to the manhole before the TUFF Mobile. Sly used his cane and managed to lift the heavy manhole cover and he used his communicator again.  
- I'm all done! Hurry up and get here!  
- Roger that. - Carmelita said.  
Back with our friends in the TUFF Mobile.  
- Dudley! Keep going straight till you see an open manhole, then get inside it! - Carmelita said. - Kitty, stop shooting, I'll deal with them right NOW! - She added as she threw a bunch of smoke bombs.  
The smoke bombs exploded and they covered the area, so the military vehicles had to stop or risk to crash against something. Carmelita smirked and sighed in relief.  
- I CAN'T SEE A THING! - Dudley yelled.  
- Lemme drive, I'll get us outta this smoke cloud. - Kitty asked.  
Dudley got out of the driver's seat and Kitty took the wheel.  
- I really hate this kinds of situations. - Chief Barkley let out.  
- You'll get used to them, trust me, I'm speaking from experience. - The Chief said.  
Kitty drove through the smoke and when they were out of the cloud, the manhole was at just a few meters. Sly made some gestures to tell Kitty and the others to hurry up. Kitty accelerated and she managed to get into the manhole followed by Sly.  
Once Sly closed the manhole, the black vehicles came back and they passed over them without noticing them. Everyone sighed in relief, but Kitty went to Sly and she slapped him hard. Sly grunted and glared at Kitty.  
- Why the hell did you slap me?! - Sly asked while he rubbed his cheek.  
- It's all your fault, Cooper! - Kitty yelled.  
- It's not my freaking fault! I don't even know what the Hell is going on here!  
- Kitty, calm down, I'm sure ringtail is saying the truth. - Carmelita said.  
- Don't tell me what to do, you lousy, no-good cop! - Kitty replied.  
- Don't you dare to insult my wife or you'll regret it! - Sly warned.  
- Agent Katswell, stop this right now! - The Chief ordered.  
- You're not my boss anymore! You can't give me orders! - Kitty replied.  
- Everyone shut up! - Dudley yelled. - We're in this together, we're supposed to be helping each other, not trying kill each other!  
- Dudley is right, you two must stop blaming and threatening each other. - Barkley said.  
- I will never work with Sly Cooper. - Kitty said while folding her arms.  
- I'd rather to lose the Thievius Raccoonus to work with Kitty. - Sly said while imitating Kitty.  
- Both of you should look at what you're alike, like the fact that both of you are really headstrong. - The Chief said.  
- I AM NOT LIKE HIM/HER! - Sly and Kitty yelled.  
- He's just a stupid thief! - Kitty said.  
- And she's just a spinster agent! - Sly replied.  
- What did you call me, Cooper?!  
- You heard me, Katswell!  
- This is gonna get us nowhere. - Dudley sighed.  
- If you two don't shut up and begin getting along, I will personally shoot you with a MAC gun! - Carmelita warned.  
- I don't care about what you're gonna do, but I'm up for recruit my gang to solve this and clean my name, my wife's name, my boss' name and probably Dudley and the Chief's name too. - Sly let out. - Who's coming with me?  
- I will. - Carmelita said.  
- I have no other choice. - Barkley let out. - Count me in.  
- This could be fun! I'm in too! - Dudley said excitedly.  
- It looks like the only way to end this craziness, so I will go too. - The Chief said.  
- You can't be serious! He's a criminal! We're supposed to fight them not join them! - Kitty snapped.  
- This wouldn't be the first time we worked with villains, you worked with Jack, and then there's the time that Snaptrap worked at TUFF with us. - Dudley said.  
- Besides, what are you gonna do to clean your name? - Sly asked. - Those guys were going to kill us, if it wasn't because of me and your partner, we would be dead by now.  
- I'm going to explain everything, I've never done anything bad in my entire life, and I won't ruin my record by working with a gang of thieves. - Kitty replied.  
- It's that or you get either killed or thrown into jail. - Sly said.  
- I will tell them that I'm not guilty.  
- (Sarcastic chuckle) You really think that they'd send those agents if they didn't had the enough evidence to throw every one of us to the slammer for good?  
- Besides, it's not that we're going to steal whatever museum, bank or anything that crosses our path. - Carmelita let out.  
- We'll just steal what we need and when we need it. - Sly said.  
- I won't. - Kitty said firmly.  
- C'mon Kitty, it's not like we'll join his gang forever. - Dudley said.  
- It's your choice, join us and you might get a chance to clean your record, or do this by yourself and risk getting caught or killed. - Sly said.  
- Argh! Fine then! - Kitty let out in defeat. - But don't get me wrong Cooper; I'm doing this to restore my name and TUFF's status as a crime-fighting organization.  
- Very well. - Sly smirked.  
- What do we do now? - Barkley asked.  
- We have to go and rescue Keswick, he stayed at the headquarters. - The Chief said.  
- No, we can't risk us doing that, we'll save him but first we need my old pals and the rest of my gang, maybe also some help from 7 Heroes. - Sly said. - Also we need equipment, without it we can't do anything.  
- We got the TUFF Mobile and 6 people here, we don't need anything else to get into TUFF headquarters. - Kitty replied.  
- If you want to die, then let's go. - Sly responded defiantly.  
- Have it your way then, Cooper.  
- Thanks, now, can this thing fly or something? - Sly asked while pointing at the TUFF Mobile.  
- It can fly. - Dudley said excitedly.  
- Ok, let's go to Holland, Penelope and Bentley should be at the old Black Baron's castle.  
The new and improvised gang hopped aboard the TUFF Mobile and Dudley sped off to Holland.  
"I just hope they haven't got to them before us." Sly thought worriedly.


	2. The New Cooper Gang, part 1

**Chapter 2.- The New Cooper Gang.**

* * *

_**Part 1.- Old members and new recruits.**_

* * *

Things looked grim, Sly Cooper, Carmelita Montoya Fox, Dudley Puppy, Kitty Katswell, Herbert Dumbrowski and Barton Barkley had been incriminated for a crime they never commited; and now three things were for sure: 1.- The rest of the Gang was in danger; 2.- They needed to find a way to rescue Keswick from the TUFF Headquarters; and 3.- The only way to solve this case was teamwork. Unfortunately for the improvised group, Kitty and Sly acted like they hated each other.  
Right now, the group that they had named "the New Cooper Gang" was flying over North Europe, to recruit two members of (as they began to call it) "the Old Cooper Gang", Bentley Wiseturtle, the Brains of the Operation, and his wife Penelope, the RC Specialist.  
- Do you think they'll help you? I mean, we're in a lot of trouble, you know? - Dudley asked.  
- Of course, Bentley, Murray and I have been life long friends ever since we met back at the orphanage. - Sly replied with a tone of concern.  
- Why do you look so upset, Sly? - Carmelita asked worriedly.  
- You know that I'm not guilty of all this, right?  
- We all know that, ringtail. - Herbert said.  
- Well, now I'm starting to think that this is all my fault.  
- You've always been a troublemaker, Cooper. - Kitty let out.  
- Kitty, for the love of everything that's sane, stop blaming my husband. - Carmelita asked.  
- Let her say it, Carm, she's right after all. - Sly said with a sigh. - If it wasn't because of me, Bentley wouldn't be in that wheelchair, Le Paradox would've never gotten the time machine, the Rebellion would've never ocurred, and everyone would be better if I hadn't existed.  
- Look Sly, I didn't mean to... - Kitty tried to say.  
- I think you've said enough, Katswell. - Carmelita cut.  
Kitty glanced at the ground and let her ears down, feeling ashamed of herself.  
- Sly, maybe you're right, maybe everyone would be better if you hadn't been born, but you exist, so stop having those stupid thoughts and instead start thinking of a way to solve all this. If this is your fault, you must solve this as soon as possible. Besides, you're not a bad guy. - Dudley said.  
Everyone stared at Dudley in shock, as they have never thought that he would say something like that. But our favorite thief wasn't surprised.  
- If you guys ask me why I'm not surprised it's because I already got some experience with people that look like idiots, but that have their moments of intelligence. - Sly let out. - By the way, thanks for trying, Dudley, but that didn't made me feel better.  
- Just think of it this way, ringtail: if you hadn't been born, I'd be like Kitty and I'd be just a spinster officer; Bentley and Murray's lives would be boring without you; Le Paradox would've gotten away with his plans; or worse, we wouldn't have won the war against the Empire. - Carmelita said.  
- And for us, we wouldn't have met after so long if it wasn't because of you. - Barton added as he pointed at Herbert.  
- Thank you guys, now I feel a bit better. - Sly said with a weak smile.  
- Guys, I think that we're lost. - Dudley said.  
- Why? - Kitty asked.  
- Because this "SPG" says that we're over a place called "Kjidrednik, Dnalloh".  
- Dudley... - Everyone said while clenching fists.  
- What?  
- YOU GOT THE GPS UPSIDE DOWN!  
- Oh, that clear things up. - Dudley turned the GPS and checked it correctly. - Oh, we're over Kinderdijk, Holland, and a mile away form that Black Baron's castle.  
- Get ready, team, we might see some action there. - Sly said as he took his cane.  
- Who named you leader, Sly? - Kitty asked with a raised eyebrow.  
- Not for nothing this group is called the "Cooper Gang".  
- Who ever said that we'd be the Cooper Gang?!  
- Herbert, Dudley, Carm, my boss and you in the previous chapter, nearly at the end of it. Also the writer did at the beginning of this chapter.  
Kitty growled and crossed her arms while Sly chuckled at Kitty's expense.  
A few minutes later, the New Cooper Gang arrived to the castle, but what they found was nothing but rubble. Sly's heartbeating quickened and he jumped out of the TUFF Mobile. Carmelita tried to stop him, but he was faster than her.  
- Ringtail! - Carmelita yelled.  
Sly couldn't hear his wife, he was way too worried for Bentley and Penelope's safety.  
Sly landed on his feet and started searching his friends in the rubble.  
- BENTLEY! PENELOPE! WHERE ARE YOU? - Sly yelled as he moved tons and tons of rubble.  
The rest of his new gang got out of the TUFF Mobile and went with Sly to help him find his friends.  
- Sly?! Is that you? - A nasal voice asked.  
- Bentley?! - Sly replied as he and his new partners turned around.  
And there he was, the Brains of the Operation, Bentley Wiseturtle, he was a bit bruised and had an ice bag over his head but other than that he was ok.  
Sly went with Bentley and hugged him tightly, making Bentley drop the ice bag.  
- You don't have to worry, I'm ok, Sly, at least I was before you started crushing me. - Bentley said breathlessly.  
Sly let go of the embrace and then he looked at Bentley.  
- Thank god you're ok, pal. - Sly said.  
- Don't worry, me and Penelope had everything under control. - Bentley replied.  
- Well, if you ask me, it looks like you didn't "have everything under control". - Carmelita said.  
- What happened here? - Dudley asked.  
- Le Paradox and someone called Verminious Snaptrap. - Bentley said. - They came here to recruit Penelope, she denied and they attacked us, then they blew up the castle with me and Penelope still inside. Luckily my force field generators worked perfectly.  
- Where's Penelope? - Sly asked.  
- She's fine, better than me at least, she went looking help, but a better question is what are you doing with those TUFF agents? - Bentley replied.  
- How did you know that we're TUFF agents? - Herbert asked.  
- It's not that difficult to know, I've investigated about every crime-fighting organization and their members. Besides, you're quite known in the world.  
- What do you know about us? - Dudley asked.  
- Almost everything, especially about your partner, Dudley Puppy, Special Agent Kitty Katswell. - Bentley replied as he took his ice bag. - Mainly because of someone that sent her diary to everyone in Petropolis, somehow I got an e-mail with it too.  
Kitty glared at Dudley and the latter shrugged and whimpered.  
- Anyway, what're you doing with them Sly? Are you gonna join them or what? - Bentley asked again.  
- It's actually the opposite to that, they're gonna join us. - Sly replied.  
- Are they going to join Interpol?  
- No, they are going to join to the Cooper Gang. - Carmelita corrected.  
On that moment, the gang heard some paces that were heading towards them. They pulled out their weapons and hid behid the rubble, they got ready to fight but a calm and sweet female voice was heard.  
- Hey Bentley! Where are you?!  
- Relax guys, it's just Penelope. - Bentley said.  
The gang got out of hiding and put their weapons away, then they saw a blonde-haired, lavender-furred mouse girl.  
- So I was right, we will have to reunite the gang once more. - Penelope said.  
- Who are you? - Kitty asked.  
- My name is Penelope, I'm Bentley's wife, now I ask who are you guys? And why are you with Sly and Carm?  
- I'm Kitty Katswell, I'm an agent, well, was an agent.  
- I'm Dudley Puppy, nice to meet...! - Dudley said before Sly covered his mouth.  
- We'll have enough time to presentations later, we have to go recruit Murray, the Guru, Panda King and even if I don't want to, Dimitri. - Sly snapped.  
- Do you even know where are they anyway? - Bentley asked.  
- I was hoping you had that information.  
Everyone groaned in dispair and glared at Sly.  
- Hey don't blame me! It's all fault of the writer! - Sly said.  
- Don't try to blame me, Cooper. - The writer replied. - And why the heck are you breaking the fourth wall so much?! This is like the third time, for crying out loud!  
- Oops, my bad. - Sly let out. - So, do you know wher are they, Bentley?  
- Dimitri is in Paris, the Guru is still in New York, the Panda King still lives in the Kunlun Mountains and Murray is on Mexico City, there's a wrestling world tour in which he participates.  
- Ok, everyone to the TUFF Mobile, we've got some work to do. - Sly said.

* * *

_**(Some hours later in Mexico City)**_

* * *

Dudley was driving the TUFF Mobile (again), while the New Cooper Gang was travelling to Mexico City, to recruit the third member of the Original Cooper Gang: Murray, the brawn and getaway driver. Although the trip was uncomfortable to say the least, because they didn't have much space on the TUFF Mobile. That's why they decided to go look for Murray before everyone, to have enough space for the rest of the gang during their travels.  
- I can't wait to get into the van. - Penelope said. - We never had such problems with the space of the vehicle, not even during the Rebellion.  
- What's the Rebellion? - Kitty asked.  
- We'll tell you later, Kit, right now we have wot find a way to go unnoticed. - Carmelita said. - We should use disguises.  
- We MUST use disguises, we're fugitives now, remember? - Sly corrected.  
- And where are we going to get disguises, Cooper? - Kitty asked.  
- Sly has the hyper-cube, Jack used to have some disguises handy just in case he or anyone needed. - Bentley explained.  
- Exactly, now, what exactly is your choice for costume? - Sly asked as he pulled the bluish cube out of his backpack.  
Kitty took the cube in her hands and said:  
- How can this small cube carry eight disguises for normal people?  
- It's kinda complicated to explain, it would take me nearly a month and many multisyllabic words. - Bentley replied.  
- Let's just say that it's magic, ok? - Penelope said.  
- Believe them, it's literally magic. - Sly added.  
Kitty narrowed her eyes and shrugged. Then Sly took the cube and began selecting his disguise.  
Moments later, Dudley landed the TUFF Mobile near a place called "Palacio de los Deportes". When the gang got out of the TUFF Mobile, Sly was wearing a black leather jacket, a fake mustache, dark glasses and a white shirt; Bentley was wearing a t-shirt with the Mexican flag, a big fake mustache and big dark glasses; Penelope wore a purple t-shirt, gray jeans and black boots; Carmelita was using a white A-shirt and green pants; Dudley was wearing a blue t-shirt with a green cap; Kitty was wearing baggy brown sweat pants, a white t-shirt and had taken off her hair band; and Herbert and Barton had to stay in the TUFF Mobile because Sly didn't have disguises of their sizes.  
- How come you have disguises of every size except ours? - Herbert asked.  
- I don't know. - Sly replied nonchalantly.  
The disguised members turned their backs and walked over to the arena.  
- Ok guys, we must get into the Palacio de los Deportes, Murray is sure to be there. - Carmelita said.  
- Why does your friend has a fearful name like that? - Dudley asked.  
- Right, Murray is a fearful name and now you'll tell me that you three like that "Quacky the Duck Show". - Sly let out.  
- Umm... no? - Dudley, Kitty and Herbert said.  
- For the love of...! (Sigh) Whatever, just don't do something that might blow our cover.  
Sly, Bentley, Dudley, Penelope, Kitty and Carmelita began to walk towards the arena. Once they got inside, Sly pulled out his cane rapidly and grabbed some tickets from a distracted guy. Then he put his cane away and ran towards the rest of his gang with the tickets in his hand.  
- Why did you buy those tickets?! I don't even like wrestling! - Kitty complained.  
- Who ever said that I buyed them? - Sly asked with a smirk.  
- You stole them?!  
- Just shut up, Kastwell, I had to do it because it's the only way to see Murray. - Sly replied.  
Carmelita sighed and grabbed Sly by his jacket.  
- Sly, for the Cooper Vault's sake, be more gentle with Kitty... - Carmelita said while she pulled out her reliable shock pistol. - ...Or I'll fry you with my shock pistol again!  
- I'll try, is that enough for you?  
- For now.  
The New Gang entered to the arena and they took their respective seats.  
- What do we do now? - Dudley asked.  
- Let's watch the show and keep an eye on the audience. - Penelope said.  
- I agree, otherwise a villain can attack and hurt Murray or innocent people. - Bentley snapped.  
- I didn't know you cared about others. - Kitty said.  
- We're thieves, not monsters. - Sly said.  
The gang nodded and started glancing at the audience.  
- There's a bunch of people running towards the ring. Is that normal in this kind of events? - Dudley asked.  
- Not so uncommon. - Sly said. - But just to be sure.  
Sly pulled out his binocucom and glanced on the same direction that Dudley, then he gasped once he noticed one of the persons that were heading towards the ring.  
- Neyla! - Sly yelled.  
- Darn it! I thought that I had already killed her! - Carmelita said while she bared her teeth.  
- You killed someone and you speak of it as it was nothing?! - Kitty said startled.  
- She didn't kill her, if she had, Neyla wouldn't be here. - Sly said. - Now focus, Katswell.  
- Looks like she's not alone either, Jean Bison, El Jefe, Octavio, a moose and a duck are with her. - Penelope said.  
- Octavio? Wasn't he at jail? - Sly asked.  
- Muggshot, Raliegh, Le Paradox, El Jefe and Snaptrap are supossed to be at jail too; Jean Bison is supposed to be frozen, and Neyla is supossed to be dead. - Bentley replied.  
- Will you guys cut the chit-chat and get to work before they hurt anyone? Or are you going to wait till someone gets hurt? - Kitty asked sarcastically.  
Sly glared at Kitty, while Neyla and the others took this chance to inside the ring, startling Murray, his opponent (a penguin) and all the people in the arena.  
- What's the meaning of this? - The penguin demanded.  
- Silence, we have an important announcement to make. - The Sharing Moose said while he snatched a microphone from one of the commentarists.  
- I think you messed into the wrong show, fellas! - Murray yelled.  
Murray tried to punch the Sharing Moose but Neyla took him by surprise and put a round and shiny device on the hippo's chest, which shocked him with a thousand volts. The penguin tried to help Murray but El Jefe knocked him unconscious. The villains glanced at the bewildered audience and smirked.  
- Good night, ladies and gentleman. - Neyla said with a smirk. - I'm sorry to inform you that this match has been cancelled, but don't worry, a new match will take place right here, right now, with us four against the one and only Cooper Gang!  
Neyla and the villains pointed at our friends, everyone gasped and started murmuring some things in Spanish.  
- I think our cover has been blown. - Dudley said quietly.  
- You don't say. - Sly let out.  
- Unfortunately, this is a pay-per-view, so if you don't hand over your money, my friend the Sharing Moose won't mind using you as punchbags. - Neyla said.  
- That's enough, Neyla! - Carmelita yelled from the crowd. - You wanted a fight? Well, you got it!  
The people on the arena started running towards the exits while Dudley, Sly, Kitty and Carmelita went over to fight with the villains. Meanwhile Bentley and Penelope helped with the evacuation.  
The former law enforcements got inside the ring and glared at the villains.  
- So Cooper, how are things at Interpol? I heard that you and your wife got fired. - Neyla mocked.  
- Don't you dare to mock of me, Neyla! If I recall well, I almost killed you the last time we fought, so don't tempt me. - Sly said.  
- This time we're not working alone, you don't even know how many troubles you've got yourself into. - Octavio said.  
- I don't care, you know I ALWAYS win. - Sly said with a smirk. - My gang, my new friends and I are going to solve this and give you a lesson in the mean time!  
- We don't think so, Cooper, this time you're going to pay for what you've done to us! - El Jefe yelled.  
- I can say the same of the dimwitted dog and his stupid partner. - The Sharing Moose said as he tried to punch Dudley.  
Dudley wasn't going to be able to dodge the punch, but something stopped the fist right in front of Dudley's face.  
- Get away from them now... or the Murray will have to give you the beating of your life. - Murray said as he crushed the Sharing Moose's fist in his hand.  
- You stupid kid! You're trying to mess in our plans again! - Octavio said as he pointed at Murray.  
- Yeah, we tend to get into a lot of trouble because of that. - Carmelita said.  
- I wish that we could stay any longer, but we're running outta time and we have a rendezvous very far away from here. - Neyla said.  
- You're going nowhere, Neyla. - Sly said firmly.  
The Sharing Moose tried to punch Murray but he dodged and returned the blow with twice the strength. Octavio rapidly lunged against Sly, only to be received by a powerful whack to the chin. Neyla whiplashed Carmelita on the chest, which made the vixen angry, so Carmelita started shooting at her left and right. Then, Quacky tried to pull out a blaster to shoot at the distracted gang, but Kitty surprised Quacky and knocked him down with a graceful sweep-kick, while Murray threw the Sharing Moose at Quacky, Sly whacked Octavio once more and Carmelita cornered Neyla with her shock pistol. Unfortunately for the Gang, El Jefe shot them some fireballs, which sent them flying against the ropes, which sent them back to Jean Bison, who hit them hard with his staff.  
- I think you lose, Cooper Gang. - El Jefe said.  
- You shouldn't have messed with us. - Jean Bison said.  
- Well, you shouldn't have pissed off an AWC superstar! - Someone yelled behind the villains.  
El Jefe and Jean Bison tried to turn to see who had spoken but the tiger was rapidly knocked out by a chair hitting him in the face, and Jean Bison was tackled to the ground by the penguin that was fighting with Murray. The others shaked their heads and stood up, then they saw that Neyla, Quacky, the Sharing Moose, Octavio and El Jefe were going to attack the penguin, so they rapidly jumped back to action.  
Sly threw his cane at the Sharing Moose and hit him in the head, instantly knocking him out; then Octavio tried to attack Sly but Murray got in his way and uppercutted him hard; Quacky shot at Murray but Kitty tackled Murray and the shots hit some spots near Bentley and Penelope.  
- Hey watch it, guys! - Penelope yelled.  
After Kitty had pounced on Quacky, Neyla tried to whiplash the former agent, but Carmelita grabbed the tigress' whip and pulled her towards her, then Carmelita punched her in the face and knocked Neyla out. El Jefe tried to use his fireball attack again but Dudley shot three blasts at the tiger and sent him crashing near Bentley and Penelope.  
- What did I just tell you?! - Penelope snapped.  
Back on the ring, the gang had cornered the villains and they were glaring at them.  
- You have nowhere to run now, it's over. - Kitty said.  
- Now, tell us who the hell hired you and what's he or she planning to do. - Sly ordered while frowning.  
- Oh look at the time now, it's time to go! - Neyla said as she threw a few smoke bombs to the ground.  
The Cooper Gang had to cover their eyes, and during their blindnessthe villains escaped from the arena. Once everything had cleared out, they saw that Murray had a Power Inhibitor in his chest. Sly and Carmelita went with Murray to check him up.  
- Are you ok, Murray? - Carmelita asked.  
- The Murray might have been hit, but that won't stop me from helping my friends. - Murray replied. - One question though, what is Kitty Katswell doing with you guys?  
- You know her? - Sly asked.  
- Yeah, I remember that no one has ever followed me the way she did, she is the most challenging driver I've ever met. - Murray said. - She's one of the toughest girls I've ever seen, aside from Carmelita, Parisa and Sally.  
- I'll take that as a compliment. - Kitty said.  
- Oh by the way, thanks for helping us with the villains, Pat. - Murray said to the penguin.  
- You're welcome, but you owe me an explanation and a rematch. - Pat replied.  
- Alright, sounds fair enough.  
- So what are we going to do now? - Dudley asked.  
- Well, we should get back to the TUFF Mobile and go to New York, the Guru is the nearest member. - Penelope said.  
- Wait. - Pat snapped. - What are you guys doing?  
- We're trying to stop some criminals that have framed us, we need to gather all my old gang and find out what they're up to. - Sly explained.  
- Oh I see. - Pat said. - Well, if you're going against those guys, count me in.  
- No, we can't do that. - Kitty said.  
- I know how to handle myself in combat.  
- We know that, but we can't risk you. - Murray explained.  
- But let's put it this way, we're going to be facing an army of villains, and as such we're gonna need an army of our own. - Dudley said.  
- What're you talking about? - Everyone asked.  
- It's war, guys, we have to stop the Unnamed Criminal Association.  
- I see where you're going. - Sly said with a smirk. - Thieves vs. Villains, I like the sound of that.  
- You're losing me. - Carmelita said.  
- Let me put it this way.  
Sly walked over to Pat and offered him a hand.  
- Pat, welcome to the Cooper Gang. - Sly said while he shaked hands with Pat.  
- Seriously?! - Pat asked in astonishment.  
- Yep, and we'll have to see if we can recruit some more members, otherwise the villains will just win by outnumbering us.  
- I see your point, Cooper, but isn't it a bit careless to let some stranger join us completely out of the blue? - Kitty asked.  
- Maybe, but I'm a strange guy myself.  
- Well, let's get moving, we won't recruit more members if we're just standing here. - Carmelita snapped.

* * *

**_(Later)_**

* * *

Now things have changed a bit, Murray was driving the van, which had Sly, Bentley, Carmelita, Penelope, Pat and Barton aboard, meanwhile Dudley, Kitty and Herbert were in the TUFF Mobile.  
- So it's not just Neyla, Octavio, the Sharing Moose, El Jefe, Jean Bison and Quacky, huh? - Murray said through a communicator.  
- Yes, Le Paradox, Snaptrap, Muggshot and the Chameleon are behind all this too. - Kitty said.  
- Then we'll have to be expecting even more enemies, Octavio said that they weren't working alone. - Carmelita snapped.  
- Of course, were are we now? - Sly asked.  
- We're above the Río Bravo, why you ask? - Murray replied.  
- We should split up and cover more ground. - Bentley suggested. - We should divide our team, Penelope, Herbert, Murray, Pat, Barton I will go to New York to get the Guru; while Dudley, Carmelita, Kitty and Sly go to Sly's house for our gear.  
- Ok, but how are we going to do that? You know that I suck at driving and Murray won't let anyone but you drive his van. - Sly snapped.  
- Oh well, looks like we'll have to land and switch places so my part of the team will be in the van and Sly's part will be on the TUFF Mobile.  
Dudley and Murray landed the van and the TUFF Mobile, then Sly and Carmelita changed to the TUFF Mobile while Herbert and Barton went to the van.  
- We'll meet at Sly's house, good luck pals. - Bentley said as the van raised the flight again.  
- Ok, good luck to you too, and may the Force be with us all. - Sly replied.  
Dudley raised flight and sped off to Sly's house, completely unaware that they were heading to a trap.


	3. The New Cooper Gang, part 2

**Chapter 2.- The New Cooper Gang.**

* * *

_Part 2.- Jack Rabbit vs. Sly Cooper, the rematch._

* * *

Sly was angry.  
Dudley had passed his house by ten miles and they had lost a lot of time in return to their real destination. Our dear former TUFF agent was trying to apologize but the master thief was way too angry to even think about forgiving him.  
- I said that I was sorry! - Dudley said for the umpteenth time.  
- Why the hell did you pass my house by ten miles?! How could you even do such a thing when I was telling you exactly where it was?! - Sly replied angrily.  
- I was distracted!  
- You had the GPS!  
- It was upside down again!  
- Why?!  
- I don't know!  
- That won't give us back the time we've lost!  
- Will you two stop it already?! I think that Kitty and I had listened to you complaining and trying to say sorry for far too long! - Carmelita snapped.  
- Not until time returns! - Sly replied.  
- For crying out loud Cooper, Dudley is stupid, you should've expected that he was going to do something like that. - Kitty explained.  
- I'm still wondering how is it that you haven't broken his neck yet. - Sly thought aloud.  
- Sly James Cooper! - Carmelita nagged the raccoon.  
- Don't use my full name!  
- Then don't make me angry!  
- And you claim to be husband and wife? - Kitty said under her breath.  
- I heard that, Katswell!  
Kitty snickered while the gang kept their way to Sly's house.  
After another five minutes (and an hour) later, Sly, Dudley, Kitty and Carmelita got out of the TUFF Mobile and they walked towards the Cooper household. Once they got inside, Kitty gasped when she saw the interior of the house, which was by no means ugly.  
- Wow, your house is actually nice. - Kitty let out.  
- I'll take that as a compliment, thanks Katswell. - Sly replied.  
- Where's the control pad to unlock the hidden stuff, ringtail? - Carmelita asked.  
- It's over there, behind the bookshelf. - Sly said while he pointed at a cabinet. - And stop calling me ringtail!  
Carmelita chuckled and walked over to the bookshelf, she moved it slightly and there it was, a small console with a numeric pad. She pressed some buttons and several pieces of furniture, like the sofa, the coffee table and a small cabinet, turned and revealed many hidden things like ammo, guns, a great variety of grenades, binocucoms, several sets of picklocks, bio-foam cans, smoke bombs, some strange wristwatch-like devices and many more. To say that this had left the TUFF Agents astonished, was an understatement.  
- WOW! This stuff is really cool! Are you really going to give us this cool weapons? - Dudley asked in excitement.  
- Maybe, we'll see about it once we clear our names. - Sly replied of-factly.  
- Where did you get all this stuff? - Kitty asked.  
- Sorry my friend, that's classified, it's top secret. - Carmelita said.  
Kitty narrowed her eyes at the vixen, who just smiled sheepishly.  
- Take anything you need, and make sure to put the rest on those boxes. - Sly said while he pointed at some crates.  
Sly walked directly to the rifles while Kitty stood in her place watching all the stuff around her. Meanwhile Dudley walked over to a shelf that had a great variety of grenades. The dog grabbed a blue grenade, he activated it and then the grenade produced a gaseous plasma that began to ionize to a degree where it burned into the dog's fur and adhered to his hand. Dudley tried to throw it but it was attached to his hand. Dudley shaked his hand violently but the grenade didn't budge even a bit.  
- Ah! It's stuck to my hand! - Dudley yelled in dispair while he still tried to get rid of the grenade.  
Sly turned rapidly and saw Dudley, he got startled when he saw that the dog had a plasma grenade attached to his hand. Sly ran towards Dudley, he grabbed the grenade and tore it from Dudley's hand, making the former agent yell in pain, the thief took off his glove and then Sly threw it through the window. The grenade exploded and everyone stared at the broken window, seeing the destructive power of such a small explosive.  
Then Dudley walked over to Sly and showed him his injured hand.  
- Why did you tore it from my hand like that?! - Dudley snapped.  
- Did you want to get blown to bits then? - Sly asked nonchalantly.  
- Ok, thanks, I guess.  
Dudley sat on a couch while Sly sighed heavily and took out a tape recorder, he turned it on and said:  
- Note to self, keep the grenades away from the Guru, Dimitri and Dudley. - Sly said.  
Then Sly put the recorder in his leg pouch and Carmelita glanced at Sly's hand, which was full of scars and hairless on several parts, like if he had burned his hand.  
- What happened to your hand, ringtail? - Carmelita asked.  
- Nothing. - Sly replied rather nervously while he grabbed a black glve with some wires over it. - And I thought I had asked you to stop calling me ringtail.  
- Ok. - Carmelita replied before she murmured to herself. - But I'm gonna find out sooner or later.  
Carmelita turned to check the pistols and Kitty walked over to her to talk about all the gadgets and weapons that they had; Dudley just watched Sly while the master thief put on the glove and started to grab his thieving gear (His binocucom, smoke bombs, a picklock set, some bio-foam cans, etc). Then Dudley saw something on some sort of platform that caught his attention, a cilindric container that had some sort of silverish substance floating inside it, as if it wasn't affected by gravity. The former agent walked over to it and tried to take it, however the container was attached from its base. Dudley frowned slightly and then he started rotating the container until he unscrewed it from the platform and he took it. Then he examinated it a bit before he turned.  
- Hey guys, what's this thing? - Dudley asked with the container in his hands.  
Sly and Carmelita turned to see what Dudley wanted to say, then they startled and tackled Dudley. Once everything was in calm again, the raccoon took the container carefully and screwed it back in its platform, confusing Kitty by his actions.  
- Why did you tackle Dudley? - Kitty asked in bewilderment.  
- That thing is antimatter. - Carmelita replied as she and Dudley got up.  
- And that thing is?  
- It's the complete opposite to the matter and one of the greatest sources of clean energy on the galaxy. - Sly explained. - A single drop can power a city like New York for a day, it produces 100 times more energy than a nuclear fusion. However it's EXTREMELY unstable. If the antimatter gets in contact with any kind of matter, even the air, they will annihilate each other transforming into high-powered photons.  
- Wow, I didn't think you'd know about so much about science. - Kitty let out.  
- Me neither, but a few years ago my life changed drastically and I had to learn some things that you wouldn't understand. - Sly replied while he threw a binocucom to Kitty.  
Kitty caught the device and asked:  
- What's this?  
- That's a binocucom, you and the rest of your friends will need them, we use them to comunicate with each other. - Carmelita explained while she took a holster and a pistol.  
Carmelita grabbed a magazine for her pistol and loaded it, then she put on the holster and put the gun in it. Kitty's eyes went wide open when she saw that Sly was doing the same than his wife, only he had something that looked like an assault rifle.  
- Why do you guys have all these things? - Kitty asked.  
- Easy, for protection. - Sly answered nonchalantly while he put other three rifles on a box.  
- For protection? You guys have a full armory on your living room! - Dudley snapped.  
- That's right, but after all the troubles we've been through, we wanted to make sure we'd be ready for anything. - Sly said while he put some more magazines on a box.  
Kitty walked over to Carmelita and helped her put some of the guns and the explosives on a box while Dudley did the same with Sly.  
Then, completely out of nowhere, a yellow furred rabbit wearing a tuxedo broke a window, startling the former agents and the thief. The rabbit knocked out Dudley with a flying kick, then he evaded two punches from Kitty and then he gave her a karate chop on the back of her neck, knocking her out. Carmelita tried to shoot at the intruder, but the latter evaded each and every one of Carmelita's shots, then he drove the air out of her lungs with a hard kick to the stomach, and at last he used a taser to shock Carmelita and knock her out. Then the rabbit tried to attack Sly, but the thief easily dodged each attack from the intruder and responded with a cane whack to the chin. The rabbit backed away and Sly took this chance to punch the intruder square in the face. The rabbit fell on his back, then he stood up rapidly and finally glanced at Sly's eyes.  
- Jack Rabbit, "the greatest TUFF Agent of all times". - Sly said sarcastically. - I knew that you would be behind this too.  
- How could you know that, Cooper? - Jack asked.  
- Easy, my new friends here told me that you turned into a low-life criminal and that you tried to drain Katswell's brain. - The raccoon explained. - So I came to the conclussion that if I am the only thief that could beat you at your own game, you'd help whoever is behind all this operation to have your revenge against me, Dudley and Katswell. You're a disgrace to every respectable thief in the universe.  
- You're right, Cooper, I've come for revenge, but also to get that. - Jack replied while he pointed the Cooper family cane.  
- You want it? - Sly asked while he strapped his cane to his back. - Come and get it if you have the guts!  
Jack lunged at Sly again to try to punch him in the face again but Sly dodged him and punched Jack on the ribs. Rabbit grunted in pain and he kneed Sly on the stomach. Sly groaned and responded with a frontflip kick to the chin, which was responded by a punch in his left cheek. Sly and Jack backed away and they tried a roundhouse kick against each other. Their legs collided, making both combatants groan in pain. They jumped backwards and then they lunged against each other, Jack tried to tackle Sly but the raccoon evaded it with a jump, then he landed with a hard kick over Jack's back. Jack spun in the ground causing Sly to fall face-first on the ground. Jack stood up rapidly and tried to stomp on Sly's head, but he rolled away and kicked Jack on his side. Sly stood up again and Jack glared at the raccoon, then they started to walk in circles, like two wolves about to kill each other. They were perfectly matched in ability.  
- C'mon Rabbit! Is that the best you got? - Sly asked as he wiped a drop of blood coming from his mouth.  
- You haven't seen anything yet, Cooper. - Jack said while he smirked.  
And somehow, Jack threw a fireball at Sly, which left him somewhat confused, but he managed to dodge it just in the nick of time. Sly bared his teeth and glared at Jack, who was smirking.  
- You're not the only one that has new toys, Cooper, my new boss gave me this just before I came here. - Jack said as he showed Sly some kind of mechanic glove. - This is a fireball launcher, do you like it?  
- Nah, I rather to use electricity for my attacks. - Sly replied as a matter-of-factly.  
Jack smirked and he threw another fireball at Sly, only this time the thief couldn't evade the attack. The raccon was sent backwards and Jack seized the opportunity to jump and punch Sly twice in the chest and once in the face, then he grabbed him from his shirt with a fireball ready to strike the thief right in his face.  
- Any last words, Cooper? - Jack asked while he smirked evilly.  
- Yes, I'm not dying yet. - Sly said breathlessly while he pressed a button in his right glove.  
Sly's glove sparkled with electricity and he smirked before giving Jack a hard blow in his stomach. Jack backed away again, only this time he crashed hard against a wall. Sly smirked as Jack stood up and glared at him.  
- What the hell was that?! - Jack asked angrily.  
- As you've already said, I have some new toys, like this baby for example. - Sly replied while he showed Jack his glove. - I called it "Electro-Glove", I made it myself. I thought it could be useful if I had my powers supressed by some device like the one in my chest.  
Jack softened his expression and smirked. Sly raised an eyebrow in confusion by Jack's actions and said:  
- Why are you smiling? Shouldn't you be angry or something?  
- Of course I'm angry, you're really the Master of All Thieves. - Jack replied of-factly.  
- I'm normally flattered when someone says that about me, but since I hate you so much, I think I'll take that as an insult.  
- The feeling of hatred is mutual Cooper. And you should know that you're nothing but a pest in this world.  
- I'm a pest? Since when the people that risks everything for those who they love and to protect innocent people from stupid criminals like yourself are pests?  
- Since you ruined the hard work of so many people.  
- Hard work? You dare to call those idiotic operations "hard work"? - Sly said feeling offended. - For all I know, all the criminals stopped by the Cooper Gang and TUFF were nothing but idiots trying to get riches and power by hurting innocent people. I gotta hand it to you, I've faced a lot of bad men and women in my life, from killers to gangsters, and you sir, are one of the worst: A traitorous back-stabbing coward.  
- Oh really? What can you tell me about them then? - Jack asked with a smirk.  
Sly smirked at the poor attempt to catch him off guard, so he simply crouched to avoid a blast from behind, he double-jumped to avoid a punch and crouched backwards (at Matrix's style) to avoid a kick. Sly stood up and grinned knowingly at the newcomer villains, who were a black widow, a tan cat and a white dog.  
- Did you really think that only because I'm facing you, I wouldn't notice other three intruders get into my house? - Sly asked sarcastically. - And you're even less respectable than you were when we began our rematch, bringing three of your new "friends" to help you win. Hmph, I've faced some trickster criminals in my life, but you've just won the prize to the biggest scum bag I've ever faced.  
- And you're still the same ignorant child playing dressed up in his father's legacy. - Said a known female voice.  
- Contessa, it's been such a long time. - Sly said with a smirk. - Four versus one, those are some grim odds... for you.  
- Seriously Cooper? What makes you think that? - Madame Catastrophe asked.  
- Well, the fact that four opponents like you idiots won't be enough to defeat me.  
- What about eleven opponents like us? - Dr. Rabies asked as he pointed somewhere behind Sly.  
- Huh?  
Sly turned his back and found himself face to face with no one else than Muggshot.  
- Hello Cooper. - Muggshot said with a sadistic smirk.  
Muggshot punched Sly and the latter was sent flying across the room to crash hard against a wall. Sly spat a tooth and some blood, he tried to reincorporate, only to meet another villain's face.  
- Long time no see, Cooper. - Neyla said.  
- You witch! Get the hell outta my house!  
Neyla chuckled and kicked Sly with some sort of device in her foot, and with a single kick she had sent him flying across the room again. Our dear thief crashed against a bookshelf, which was reduced to a pile of paper and wood. However, Sly knew that he had to hold up against the villains and keep them distracted while he activated a distress beacon. Sly stood up wearily and he met another villain's face.  
- So you're Sly Cooper, huh? - Bird Brain said.  
- Who the heck are you? - Sly asked a bit dazed.  
Bird Brain shot at Sly with some sort of sonic cannon, and once again he flew across the room at the feet of another intruder.  
- Did you miss me, Cooper? - Said Tsao.  
- Hi Tsao... - Sly said breathlessly.  
Tsao shot an energy ball against Sly, and he ended up crashing over the coffee table.  
The Chameleon, Rajan and Raleigh appeared from the shadows and joined the other villains with wide smirks. Then they surrounded Sly's wounded body and Jack said:  
- This is the end for you, Cooper.  
Jack Rabbit and his partners prepared their weapons to finish with Sly.  
Too bad they were going to fail.  
Sly chuckled, obtaining bewildered looks from the villains surrounding him. "My plan has worked to perfection." Sly thought while he kept chuckling.  
- Why are you chuckling you idiot, this is the end of your life. - The Contessa said.  
- You guys are... so stupid... - Sly said while he kept chuckling. - Did... you really... thought that if I... knew about Rabies, Catastrophe and the Contessa... wouldn't I knew about the rest of you?  
- What are you talking about? - Raliegh asked.  
- It's simple... I just needed to kill time...  
- For what? - Neyla asked.  
- So the reinforcements could arrive...  
Then Sly smirked and pulled out a small device with a red light flashing on the top. The villains gasped and glared at the battered raccoon.  
However, it was already too late to do anything.  
- THUNDER FLOP! - A loud voice roared.  
Sly rapidly got up and ran towards the front door, while a pink hippo broke down the second floor and the roof of his house with a powerful belly flop, being followed by a purple iguana, a flea, a brown badger, a green turtle in a wheelchair, a lavender mouse, a purple frilled lizard, a purple koala with a staff and a penguin.  
The villains had ran to take cover and they had shielded their eyes as a cloud of smoke rose and when everything had cleared, they stepped out from their hiding spots and saw Murray, Bentley, Herbert, Barton, Penelope, the Guru, Pat and Dimitri right in front of them, along with a female frilled lizard, Dudley, Carmelita, Kitty and a surprisingly recovered Sly.  
- What?! But you were just about to die! - Jack said completely confused when he saw Sly.  
- Well, when you're doing this since a long time ago, you start to carry some special equipment, like this little beans here. - Sly said with a wide smirk while holding a bag. - These little seeds heal anyone who eats them, aside from the fact that if you eat them, you won't need to eat in ten days.  
- Cooper! - Raleigh roared. - You and your stupid gang have been nothing but pests since...  
- Yeah, yeah, I know, "we ruined your 'hard work' and your whole lives". - Sly said sarcastically. - I now see why you're all working on the same team, you're all bad losers.  
All the villains growled at Sly's commentary, except for Neyla who was chuckling.  
- Let's see it from the bright side, at least we won't have to find them, now we can finish them all at once. - Neyla said.  
- And we'll get what we came for, the Cooper family cane. - Dr. Rabies said.  
- (Sigh) I already said that if you want my cane, you will have to snatch it from my cold dead hand! - Sly yelled as he and the gang got in combat stance.  
- That's easy to settle, ringtail. - Jack snarled while smirking.  
The villains and the Cooper gang glared at each other, walking in circles. No one dared to make the first move. Or so the villains thought.  
Sly feral-pounced against Neyla, kicking the traitorous tigress on the stomach but the Contessa responded by enveloping him with her cobweb. The frilled lizard shot a harpoon at the cobweb and set Sly free, then she shot two electric rounds at the Contessa, stunning her immediately. Jack saw the lizard and he pounced on her, he punched the lizard on the stomach and drove the air out of her lungs. Carmelita shot at Jack, and Bird Brain shot at Carmelita. Bentley used his wheelchair's robotic arms and grabbed Raliegh to throw him against Bird Brain. The Chameleon grabbed Bentley with his tongue and he threw him against Dudley and Kitty, who were fighting with Madame Catastrophe and Dr. Rabies. Penelope jumped and punched the Cameleon on the face as hard as she could, before she was hit by an energy ball from Tsao. Dimitri tried to use his tail to hit Tsao, but the latter shot him another energy ball. Then, the Guru took possesion over Tsao's mind and he shot two energy balls at Rajan. Madame Catastrophe saw that Kitty was down so she pounced on Murray and clawed him in the chest, then she climbed over him to punch him in the face as many times as she could. Barton grabbed Catastrophe and threw her to the ground, but Neyla caught him and she shocked him with her whip.  
The Gang and the villains separated and looked into each other's eyes, all of them were panting due to the pain and the tiredness they were feeling.  
- (Gasps) You're all one heck of a fight. - Murray let out.  
- However we gotta leave. - Sly said with a smirk. - But fear not, we shall meet again, sooner than you think actually.  
Sly glanced at his gang, they nodded and everyone threw a smoke bomb.  
- Run! Everybody to the TUFF Mobile and the van! - Sly yelled.  
The Cooper Gang members ran to the mentioned vehicles while each one of them grabbed a crate with their gear, while the villains coughed and tried to clear the area. Once the smoke was cleared the villains saw that the Cooper Gang had already left, which made them growl.  
- Get that cane! After them! - Jack Rabbit yelled.  
Meanwhile, the Gang hopped aboard the vehicles while Murray and Kitty got into the driver's seats. Once every member was inside both vehicles, Kitty and Murray stomped their feet on the throttle and sped off.  
Unfortunately, the Gang wasn't that had brought vehicles.  
Three black cars chased after them while some of the villains fired their blasters and guns at the Gang's vehicles.  
- We won't hold out for long if they keep shooting at us! - Murray said.  
- We must return the fire and now! - Kitty snapped.  
- Murray, open the back doors and unlock the turret! We'll shoot, you drive! - Sly ordered.  
Murray pressed a button on the wheel and the van's roof opened and revealed a turret. While Sly climbed to the turret, Carmelita pulled out her shock pistol and Bentley grabbed a blaster, then they started shooting at the three vehicles chasing them.  
- We're gonna need some help over here! - Dudley yelled.  
- Hold on, pal! I got an idea! - Carmelita said while she reloaded her shock pistol.  
Carmelita gave her shock pistol to Penelope, who got startled when she took the weapon in her hands.  
- You know I can't use this, Carmelita! - Penelope snapped.  
- Just try it! We need to keep the villains away from us. - Carmelita replied while she went to a crate.  
The vixen opened the crate and took out two battle rifles, she switched them to their stunning mode and loaded them. Then, she turned to Murray.  
- Murray, I need you to get close to the TUFF Mobile! - Carmelita said. - Dimitri, get your lazy butt out of the passenger's seat and do something!  
- I'm on it! - Murray said.  
- We're all gonna die! This is so un-cool! - Dimitri cried.  
Carmelita grabbed Dimitri by his jacket and pulled him out of the passenger's seat, she sat down and opened slightly the door.  
- Kitty, get closer to the van! I'm gonna give you some weapons! - Carmelita yelled.  
- I hope you know what you're doing, Carm! - Kitty yelled back.  
- Me too. - Carmelita said under her breath.  
Meanwhile, Sly, Barton, the Chief, Bentley, Penelope and the frilled lizard were shooting back at the villains, but they needed some serious help if they ever hoped to stop their opponents.  
- This is hopeless! - Bentley cried.  
- Shut up and keep shooting Bentley! - Sly ordered.  
- You can't escape this time Cooper! - Jack yelled.  
- Sorry, pal! We're by no means going to stay here! - Sly shouted with a mocking tone.  
Jack snarled and cursed under his breath while Sly snickered.  
While Sly mocked of Jack, Carmelita was trying to give Dudley one of the battle rifles she had took of the box.  
- Get me closer Murray! - Carmelita said.  
- Just a bit closer Kitty! - Dudley said.  
Both drivers got their vehicles closer and Dudley finally took the battle rifle.  
- Try not to switch it from stun to kill! - Carmelita said as she closed the door of the van.  
- Got it! - Dudley replied while he and Carmelita began shooting.  
Meanwhile at the villains' vehicles. Dr. Rabies, Neyla and Bird Brain were driving while the rest blasted and fired at the Cooper Gang.  
- They must not get away! At least not until we get the cane! - Madame Catastrophe said.  
- They will not get away, not if I can help it! - Jack said while he pulled out a bazooka.  
Sly saw that and he shouted:  
- Bentley, grab the hyper-cube and pull out the Hell Rider Cannon I left there!  
- What's a Hell Rider Cannon? - Dudley, Herbert, Kitty and Barton asked.  
- Possibly the most powerful weapon of the universe. - Bentley replied while he pulled out the bluish cube.  
Our dear turtle pulled out a massive cannon from the comparatively diminute cube. Then he put it over his shoulders and put the scope over his glasses.  
- C'mon, you foolish rabbit, try to hit us with your best shot. - Bentley muttered.  
Jack shot the bazooka, and Bentley shot his Hell Rider cannon. Both shots collided mid-air and they sent a shock wave that stunned both the Gang and the villains.  
Murray looked back at his comrades, he was the only one in both teams who wasn't affected by the shock wave. He frowned and said through his ear piece:  
- Kitty, I think it's time to kick it up a notch.  
Kitty shaked her head and nodded at Murray, then the cat and the hippo pressed a button on their wheels and the Gang's vehicles switched to their flying mode.  
The villains watched in anger as the van and the TUFF Mobile went flying. They growled and stopped their vehicles.  
- This is just the beginning Cooper! Don't think this is over yet! - Jack shouted at the grinning raccoon.  
Meanwhile, Sly and the others could finally take a break. They had won their first official encounter against the unnamed criminal association. Now they could think of a way to free Keswick from the TUFF HQ. Everyone let out a loud sigh and sat down to relax a bit.  
- Well, that went just as I planned it. - Sly let out.  
- I can't believe that you can endure so much damage without passing out. - Kitty said.  
- He has a lot of experience in getting pounded mercilessly without dying, don't worry about him. - Carmelita said nonchalantly.  
- So, can we go for Keswick now? I think that we have enough gear and people to do it. - Herbert said.  
- We still have to recruit one last member. - Penelope said.  
- Actually, I was thinking that we will need other two specialists. - Bentley said.  
- Which kind of specialists, Bentley? - Murray asked.  
- A technology specialist and a magic specialist.  
- So, who are your candidates this time, Bentley? - Sly asked.  
- If I remember well, they said that Keswick is their genius, so he'll be perfect for the job. On the other hand, you will not like my candidate.  
- Who is your candidate? - Kitty asked.  
- (Sigh) The old member of the Fiendish Five... Mz. Ruby.  
Sly was completely shocked when he heard the name.  
- Mz. Ruby?! She was one of the five persons that killed Sly's parents! - Carmelita snapped at Bentley.  
- I know, but maybe we can convince her like we did with the Panda King. - Bentley replied nervously.  
- So you're planning on hiring a murderer for our team?! - Kitty yelled.  
- I... I think I agree with Bentley... - Sly let out. - Think of it this way, the villains we're going to face will be a lot more than us, the more help we can get, the better.  
- But what if she doesn't want to help us? Or what if she's already been recruited by the Unnamed Criminal Association? - Dudley asked.  
- I don't think they did so, my paranormal scanners detect exactly the same reading than when we went to Haiti for the first time. - Bentley responded while he checked his scanners.  
- So, are you really sure that you want to go and try to convince Mz. Ruby too? - Carmelita asked to her husband.  
- 100% sure. - Sly replied hesitantly.  
No one was sure if Sly was telling the truth or if he was lying about trusting an old enemy, but they shrugged it off.  
- Speaking of new recruits, who's the frilled lizard? - Sly asked.  
- My name is Cleo, Cleo Venezuela, I'm a friend of Dimitri's. - The lizard replied.  
- Well, thanks for helping us out back there, but why did you come? - Kitty asked.  
- She was with Dimitri when we went to his house, she said that she has a thing to settle with the Contessa so we let her tag along. - Bentley explained.  
- Oh well, guess the more help we can get, the better. - Sly said nonchalantly.  
The gang chuckled at Sly's comment and they set a course to China, to recruit the last member of the Old Cooper Gang, the Panda King.


End file.
